dd (will be 2 next week) barely nurses anymore ( thankfully) she wants it bad, but seems to really get it now when I say mommas boobies hurt and that they are empty- I tell her that the new baby will bring fresh milk for mommas boobies and that they can share :)

she rubs my boobies and repeats that all the time, but she says that the new baby will go to the store to get milk for mommas boobies....and always asks if the new baby is ready yet...then answers herself by saying - not until it is cold out-in the fall :)

mom to ds '07 first day of a new year, dd '09 in the caul, and ds '11 at home Oct 24th To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

My DS is 27 months and is still nursing. When I got pregnant I set some really firm boundaries on nursing times. We only nurse when he wakes in the morning, before and sometimes after nap and before bed. The pain has waxed and waned. Sometimes its pain free, other times its been excrutiating.

We are starting to curb our habit of nursing to sleep at night, because that's his super long nurse and I just can't continue to nurse for 30 to 60 minutes to get him down at night. Its just not reasonable with a newborn on the way. So I've been handing him off to DH after 15 minutes or so, still awake and DH gets him down.

We seem to be mostly weaned at this point, although he still points to my breast and says "mommy milk" and does latch on for about 3 seconds every once in a while. I had told him around 20 weeks when I noticed there was no more milk that the baby would bring more when he or she was born and he remembers that as he told me last night "baby bring mommy milk". He also likes to say that the baby can have milk from his least favorite side, "baby have mommy milk here" and points to his non-favorite side. I think he may want to nurse again when the new baby comes and I think we will at least give it a try if he asks.

Ds very slowly weaned over the last few months. I always thought it was funny to hear people say they didn't know when their dc stopped 'cause it seemed to me that it would be a noteworthy occasion but I honestly cannot really say when the last time he actually bf was. He was only bfing a couple times a day for a few minutes but then the pain was making me limit it a bit more. My milk eventually did dry up & he would latch on suck a couple times & tell me there was no milk. Then he started asking to, would latch on for about 5 secs, not even suck & then pronounce with a laugh - no milk! He hasn't asked at all in at least 2 weeks but he does like to snuggle his face skin to skin against my chest.

when I was preg with Jo I had almost no issues nursing ds. He did mostly at night though, which I preferred because it didn't disturb me. He did get cut off from one side though since he'd clamped down on it fairly early on and i never could manage to let him nurse it again till after Jo was born.

This time I dried up for a couple months, which was odd since I never did before, during that time she slowed down a lot, only at bedtime for a minute or 2. now ive got milk again and she's going for more. My nipples are still a bit sensitive, but a slight adjustment to her latch helps.

She tells me she'll trade with the baby when it;s born. I'm still not sure what "trading" entails though, lol!

Becka, partnered with Eric. Momma to Kenz, 12, Abbey, 9, Nik, 8, Johanna, 3.5, and newone on the way in October

glad you guys revived this. I wish my 2yo would wean! I am so not enjoying nursing her anymore. But she is adamant that she wants to keep nursing. And I had decided that I would not initiate full weaning of her until she seemed ready. I just wish she was ready!

At bedtime is the worst, she wants to nurse on and off, I am not exaggerating, for over an hour sometimes. We are living away from DH for these 2 months, when we get home I am so psyched to take some evening work times and let him handle bedtime. Maybe we can get her to sleep without it? She is fine the couple of times I've left her with my parents in the evening. So its just having me around.

Normally she nurses a bit upon awakening, to go down for nap (if I am with her, which I almost always am) and at bedtime. A good amount of the time she awakens at some point in the early am (like 4 or 5) and wants a quick nurse to settle back down for more sleep. so, 2-4x per day.

I am still nursing (have been for over 9 yrs). Dd is 31 months and still nursing quite a bit. I haven't really set limits on it but like to wait to we are home if I can. If it hurts I have her change positions, switch sides, or give the nanas a break. I haven't really counted how much she nurses but it isn't as much as she asks. She said there is ummy milk in the nanas but she can't wait till boo brings her more. I have tandem nursed several different sets of kids and enjoy it for the most part. I think it is a great bonding experience for them and am looking forward to the new adventure.

I cold turkey'd my son while pg with my daughter...you could not even gently brush up against my nipples with out me sceaming out loud!!!!

I still feel guilty....he was almost 2 1/2, he took it hard and now at 4 1/2 he still wants comfort from my boobs...sticking his hand in my shirt when he wakes in the middle of the night, when he is hurt, tired, he even has tried to latch on a few times whe i had my shirt off....

I still will give over my boob if dd is hurt...big owwwy, like when they get a good bang to the head and I need her to calm down enough to assess....luckily that does not happen often :)

I am not sure if she will go back after the bay is born...ds did not-said it tasted funny

Quote:

Originally Posted by emmaegbert

glad you guys revived this. I wish my 2yo would wean! I am so not enjoying nursing her anymore. But she is adamant that she wants to keep nursing. And I had decided that I would not initiate full weaning of her until she seemed ready. I just wish she was ready!

At bedtime is the worst, she wants to nurse on and off, I am not exaggerating, for over an hour sometimes. We are living away from DH for these 2 months, when we get home I am so psyched to take some evening work times and let him handle bedtime. Maybe we can get her to sleep without it? She is fine the couple of times I've left her with my parents in the evening. So its just having me around.

Normally she nurses a bit upon awakening, to go down for nap (if I am with her, which I almost always am) and at bedtime. A good amount of the time she awakens at some point in the early am (like 4 or 5) and wants a quick nurse to settle back down for more sleep. so, 2-4x per day.

mom to ds '07 first day of a new year, dd '09 in the caul, and ds '11 at home Oct 24th To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I'm not nursing anymore . . . like PP said, I really thought I'd *know* when the last time was, but I don't remember exactly, it was during the first trimester. DS has been rubbing my boobs alot more, and when I'm putting him down for bed or nap, he needs to be in physical contact with me (which wasn't always the case), so I do wonder if he'll try to nurse again when the baby comes. I've debated a bit with myself, and I think I'm ok with letting him try it, but I don't want him to nurse every time the new one does. I think that's asking a bit much of mama. FWIW, he'll be 22 months when his sister arrives.

I do actually really miss having him nurse. If for no other reason than it made bedtime so much easier!

Katrina - Mama to Gabriel To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. 11/20/2009 and Norah To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. 10/11/2011 and TheoTo view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.03/11/2013- married to Wayne - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

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Nicole, I am glad to hear you enjoyed tandem-nursing. I have heard from a few people that they enjoyed it, but I am still kind of nervous. And I am surprised at how many people (even nursing mamas that I know IRL) are really sort of... well, surprised that I am planning on it. Lots of people just say, "well, she's going to have to stop soon since a new baby is coming". Weird. I am glad to have a couple of veteran tandem nursers on here :)

And my oldest weaned very easily at 2, but still comforted himself with my breasts for a long time. well into his 4s. He did finally stop! (he is closing in on 7 now and doesn't do it anymore). He was 4.5 when his sister (my second) was born. He was very interested in the nursing but not in actually trying it. He did like to drink her "leftovers" from bottles (she was a terrible bottle drinker so usually there was quite a bit). He would screw off the top and drink it. Sometimes it seemed sort of creepy to me, but I really couldn't think of a legitimate reason why he shouldn't have it, so I didn't tell him no. He recently asked if he would get to have it again with this baby!

Tonight nursing was only about 25 minutes. That is much more bearable to me.

I am still trying to think through what I am going to do about DD when the baby gets here. I was hoping to wean her early in the pregnancy but she wasn't too cooperative with that, and the milk stuck around until after 20 weeks so she still had incentive. I put a lot of limits around nursing due to pain and she is taking bottles of cow's milk for bedtime (whole other problem I still need to deal with at some point). At this point she hasn't nursed in a few days (she asks about 1x/day but recently I've been able to distract her) but I wouldn't say she is truly weaned, and by now the baby will be here in another couple of months so I'm sure she'll still be interested in nursing when she sees that.

I am incredibly reluctant to tandem but feeling like it might end up happening anyway. I don't want to encourage it but I think that flat out telling her the milk is just for the baby now will create a sibling-rivalry disaster. I'm thinking I will try to keep it restricted the way it is now - refuse requests unless they are at morning, post-daycare-pickup, or occasionally for a really bad owie.

I'm not sure what to say to prepare her. I haven't told her anything about the milk and the baby - I told her the milk went away because she is big now, and she knows the baby is coming but I haven't said anything about nursing. I know I need to address this, but what can I say that doesn't encourage her to return to full-blown nursing after the baby arrives?

I'm with emma ... I wish dd was ready to wean, but she's not. She's 31 months and loves nursing all that much more now that my breasts are starting to produce colostrum.

I had very low supply with dd and had to supplement with a Lact-Aid system at the breast for over a year, so she won't be able to have an endless amount of my milk when the baby is born. I've been prepping her so that she knows that she can nurse after the baby is finished nursing. She seems okay with that.

My friend is going to lend me the book Adventures in Tandem Nursing once she's done reading it. Perhaps I'll have a little more insight after reading that, although my low supply situation seems a bit unique.

I'm a 'cross the bridge when we get to it' kind of person, though, so whatever happens, happens. Same with finding room in the bed. Hopefully that comes naturally too!

Four-eyed tattooed fairy godmother queer, mama to my lucky star (5) and little bird (2.5). Resident storyteller at To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.. Enchanting audiostories for curious kids. Come play in the forest!

Kadie turned 2 in June and is still a complete boob-a-holic. I don't think I've had "her" milk for awhile now but that doesn't stop her from wanting to nurse. I'm pretty sure I'm producing something, just not sure what exactly right now. Over the past few weeks I've been limiting how long she nurses because of the soreness but she still nurses frequently. I loved tandem nursing her and her brother and look forward to tandem nursing this time around too. Like some of the other ladies said though, if she wants to wean she'll wean...as much as I want to continue to nurse her my ultimate goal is that she's ready to wean.

I had very low supply with dd and had to supplement with a Lact-Aid system at the breast for over a year, so she won't be able to have an endless amount of my milk when the baby is born. I've been prepping her so that she knows that she can nurse after the baby is finished nursing. She seems okay with that.

Yeah this is one of my major concerns about tandeming - I had low supply with DD and am really anxious about tandeming if it happens again.

I am hopeful that my supply will be adequate this time around because I *think* it was mostly an early stimulation issue - DD had no interest in nursing and barely ate at all for the first week or so. At the time I didn't know about the establishment of supply and so I wasn't on top of the pumping thing. (I'm also usually a things-will-work-themselves-out kind of person so I just kept giving her chances to eat, but that strategy really backfired in that particular situation.)

By the time DD decided to eat my supply had taken a significant hit and I was never able to get it to 100%. I did make about 75-80% of what she needed and we supplemented by bottle for the rest (never did the tube thing, it just seemed like too much of a hassle and I was WOH so she needed to take a bottle anyway). It was so horribly stressful to be pumping all the time and never getting enough. :(

But even if I do have an adequate supply this time around I would rather use any extra I can pump to start a freezer stash, rather than giving it to the older child. Luckily my job is a *lot* more flexible now and I am hoping to be able to WAH a fair amount as well as bring the baby to some of my OH obligations - but I will still have to pump sometimes.

Still trying to think about when/what I should tell DD about the milk issue...

But even if I do have an adequate supply this time around I would rather use any extra I can pump to start a freezer stash, rather than giving it to the older child. Luckily my job is a *lot* more flexible now and I am hoping to be able to WAH a fair amount as well as bring the baby to some of my OH obligations - but I will still have to pump sometimes.

Still trying to think about when/what I should tell DD about the milk issue...

This statement is a little off as the older child creates their own supply. You have 1 baby (the infant) and each time they nurse it signals your body to make more milk (supply and demand), the same goes for the toddler... the more they are suckeling the more is being produced so really if your toddler is nursing they should be making their own milk, they are not "stealing" from the baby.

That being said it is GREAT and perfectly reasonable to put limits on the older childs nursing. I didn't do that soon enough with ds1 and was really drained physically and emotionally. He would latch clos to 100 times a day (I counted) and that is when I said enough is enough and started setting limits, it all became much more manageable at that point. I usually let the toddler have at it for the first few weeks as that helps to increase the supply then I cut them down significantly (the ammount depends entirely on the child). So they help bolster the supply, help with any engorgement, then you taper them off leaving any extra for the baby.

The adventures in tandem nursing is a really good book that I highly recommend!! I haven't read it in 7 yrs but it was very helpful then.

As far as waht to tell your older child about the baby and the milk depends on if you will be letting the older child nurse when the baby comes. I tell my dd that when boo comes she will bring her lots of new milk (makes her totally excited plus it is a positive thing that the baby will be bringing her), I also tell her that the baby will get more milk than she does and will get to have nanas more often because she can't eat food like pizza spaghetti, ice cream, etc.

If you choose not to tandem it is really important that you set the bar now and wean asap as you do not want a negative association with the new baby.

Originally Posted by theboysmama
This statement is a little off as the older child creates their own supply. You have 1 baby (the infant) and each time they nurse it signals your body to make more milk (supply and demand), the same goes for the toddler... the more they are suckeling the more is being produced so really if your toddler is nursing they should be making their own milk, they are not "stealing" from the baby.

Thanks for the input!

So I know that it is supposed to be supply-and-demand, and most mamas say they see a change in supply with a change in demand, but I never, ever did personally. I pumped like a fiend after feeds with DD and it never made a lick of difference. I produced the same 24-25 oz/day no matter how much I pumped. And when I finally got frustrated and stopped doing that (and also stopped the ridiculous regimen of galactogogues I was on), I *still* got 24 oz/day. If I pumped every hour (when away from baby), I'd get 1 oz per pumping. If I pumped every 2 hours, I 'd get 2 oz per pumping. If I pumped every 4 hours, I'd get 4 oz. It was always like that. I made exactly 1 oz/hour, day or night, regardless of the number of pumpings/feedings, regardless of galactogogues, for a year. Totally not the way 'it's supposed to be' but that is the way it was for me.

Quote:

As far as waht to tell your older child about the baby and the milk depends on if you will be letting the older child nurse when the baby comes. I tell my dd that when boo comes she will bring her lots of new milk (makes her totally excited plus it is a positive thing that the baby will be bringing her), I also tell her that the baby will get more milk than she does and will get to have nanas more often because she can't eat food like pizza spaghetti, ice cream, etc.

If you choose not to tandem it is really important that you set the bar now and wean asap as you do not want a negative association with the new baby.

This is all strictly my opinion based on experience.

I think it is too late to wean - ie at this point even if she weaned completely today I am sure she would still remember and want to nurse 2 months from now when the baby gets here - so I guess I am going to tandem. I just am going to have to put very firm limits around it. I am hesitant to be like, "The baby is going to bring you more milk! Isn't that so great!" because I don't to encourage the nursing really, more like just accept it if that makes sense?

Just a reminder that a pump ca be helpful but is not near as good as a baby as far as increasing production. You mentioned you had a slow start, knowing that now maybe you will be able to minimize any supply issue problems.

I get not encouraging it with the new milk. That is just what we have done as I know that she is most likely going to wean based on her nursing patterns and my past experience so I figure she might as well get a gift from the baby that will make her think very highly of her sister.

Mambera, chiming in again as a fellow low-supply mama ... sometimes women just won't have enough to nurse two babies, no matter about supply and demand. So for any of us who are genuinely low-supply (trust me, I would not have wrangled a supplemental system and hunted down donor milk for over a year), we do have to prepare our older children for the potential eventuality that we might have to dedicate what we do have to the new child. There are some thing to do before baby gets here, such as drink Mother's Milk tea, or take herbal supplements such as fenugreek and blessed thistle, and have a prescription on hand for the galactagogue domperidone so that you can start taking it right after baby is born. This is my plan. But my midwives tell me that it likely won't be enough. I've been telling dd that she can nurse after the baby is finished. That way, she's taking the place of the pump, which never worked well for me anyway.

Hopefully, Mambera, your situation was more about getting the supply started ... I hope so! Fingers crossed for you!

Four-eyed tattooed fairy godmother queer, mama to my lucky star (5) and little bird (2.5). Resident storyteller at To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.. Enchanting audiostories for curious kids. Come play in the forest!

Thanks for the encouragement starling&diesel. I am hopeful that things will be better this time but agree with the need to be prepared in case they aren't. Honestly the galactogogues did nothing for me and eventually I stopped taking them. I still have a whole bunch of leftovers, including an unopened bottle of More Milk Plus, a bottle of fenugreek capsules, a bottle of shatavari capsules, 5-6 boxes of TM Mother's Milk Tea, and an unremembered amount of domperidone (that didn't work for me either, although I never went to the super-high doses that I know some mamas need to take to see a difference). I think I probably will not try them again, although maybe I will keep them for insurance until I see what happens with my supply this time around. Check in with me again in November if you want them FFS (they have all been at room temperature for 1.5 years though, not sure if that is an issue).

He's picked up interest recently. I am quite sore, but he's so insistent (especially when he comes to bed with me in the mornings) that I just let him have it.

Colostrum is definitely in. At no point have I seen him give any indication that my milk was changing, even though I knew it had. There were about 6 weeks there where I sincerely doubt he was getting anything at all, but that didn't stop him!

Not really sure what to do when #2 comes along. Not thinking about it too much. No point in having a plan or trying to crucify myself with standards until I know what I'm up against! I had trouble getting my milk going with DS1, but I am counting on him this time to stimulate supply and turn me into a dairy queen! ;)

UGGG my thrush is back. I have battled a systemic yeast infection for close to 3 yrs now. Sometimes it is really really bad, sometimes manageable, sometimes barely there, but I think I always have a little bit of yeast overgrowth at some point. This pg it has been mostly vaginal and although that is uncomfortable and terribly annoying it is not like thrush. Nursing while pg is bad enough but add thrush to it. Ugggg now I am having another girl (which seems to be a mega yeast producer for me) and the 2 of them will get to help feed my fire. Hoping it gets better soon. This is so frustrating.

I'm reviving this thread to ask about nursing and Braxton-Hicks? The nursing-induced contractions are quite strong and very uncomfortable, is this going to throw me into premature labor? I'm 34 weeks right now and I have SO MUCH to get done at work before this baby comes, I really do not want to go early *at all* (meaning before 40 weeks, never mind the obvious reasons to avoid having a preemie or near-preemie baby). DD came at 38 wks 5 days and I was so not ready.

I am trying to limit nursing as much as possible but DD seems to be wanting it more, we were down to once every 2-3 days for a while and now we are back to at least a couple of requests per day. She says she likes the colostrum, sigh.

I did talk to my midwife probably a month or so ago when I was having strong BH while nursing. She said it was my own judgment call, that there was a possibility of it spurring on premature labor but that the risk, specific to me, was pretty low as I had of or risk factors for premature labor. I chose to continue, but did maintain our two to three times a day limit and stopped a particular session if the BH were getting to be too much.

emmaegbert, I love the image of your son emptying out the baby bottle ... like an addict getting his fix -- but cute, if that makes sense? :)

Anyway, just saw this thread and so happy it's here. My youngest turned 3 over the summer and we're still going strong. She doesn't nurse a lot, but she's very attached to it, and I do plan to tandem when the new baby arrives. When I first got pregnant I wasn't sure, but I've found I really can't give it up and since she's so gung ho herself, that makes it easy. I'm actually looking forward to having her visit me at the hospital as soon as possible after the birth so she can help get the milk flowing. You just know the nurses are going to love that one!

All of that said, it hasn't been a painless 9 months. My nipples have been sore, sometimes excruciatingly so, the entire time, but I guess it hasn't been bad enough that I was really ready to quit. She has asked me several times if the new baby is going to nurse like she does, and I was grateful for the opportunity to say yes so that perhaps she's at least a tiny bit prepared for what that will be like (sharing me, I mean). And I think for the most part she'll be really ok with it. She really only nurses at night and in the morning nowadays -- -sometimes more if she's really tired or gets a booboo -- and I half expect she'll want to nurse more when she sees the baby nursing ... but, my plan is just to be as relaxed as possible for as long as possible and then, when I feel like I need to set limits, probably after a week or two, we can address that then.

We're still going over here! DS is 18 months and asks 2-3 times a day. My nipples are sore and the nursing occasionally brings on BH, but given that I went over by quite a bit last time despite weeks of BH, I'm ok with it.

Colostrum is definitely in. Knock on wood, DS hasn't been sick since it came in!

yep still nursing 3x most days. Sometimes 2, sometimes 4. DD told me to "squeeze it" so I could see that there is milk (colostrum I am sure, it was yellow) and she seems to like it just fine. Pain is gone (maybe b/c of the colostrum?) but sometime it just makes my skin crawl, especially a weird thing she does with her tongue when she's having a hard time falling asleep.

I am very curious what will happen after baby is born. maybe we can have a new thread for that :)

I am 34 weeks as of yesterday. DD will be 2.5 years 4 days after my EDD.

Still nursing here. I have oddly mixed feelings at this point. I really, really thought he was weaning a couple of months ago, and was feeling pretty good about the general experience. We had such a hard time getting started, and then it became so important to him. We managed to continue despite the fact that I traveled about 25% of the time. I felt like I was doing an awesome job of balancing my work and the needs of a small person, I helped him feel secure despite my frequent absences, now he was ready to move on, and it would have been a happy end for both of us.

And then he decided he wasn't done after all.

It isn't painful, nor is it often (a few times a week), and I'm really not in any sort of headspace to make any decisions about this right now, so I'm just going to wait and see for a bit. But I really wish I had been right and he had actually weaned months ago. I did not see this issue coming. (Which, in retrospect, was kind of spectacularly naive.)

we are nursing tons still and dd is so excited for the baby to bring her more milk when she comes. I don't remember if my oldest nursed this much at this point in pg but none of my others did. Maybe part of it is that I have been pg for about a yr and 1/2 so she has just gotten used to all the changes and figured to hang on anyways.

She nurses about 30 min. in the morning. (will ask a few times throughout the morning sometimes I distract sometimes I don't), about 30 min. before nap and 30 min after. Then maybe once or twice before bed time then about 1/2 hr at bed time. I know it will only increase when the baby comes then I will need to set limits on it about 2wks pp to keep from going insane (I know this from past experience:)).

Anyone else feeling like they'd just love a "Good for you!" for making it this far?

It seems like everyone I know is looking askance at me for keeping it up this long. I keep it to myself mostly because I just don't want to deal with negative comments. Even my mom, who breastfed 5 children exclusively, seems to think it's weird.

But this morning, DS woke up at 6:45. I brought him to bed...and we slept and nursed until 8:30. 8:30. So I think I get the last laugh! I just wish people were more understanding. It feels like a big deal to have made it this far!